American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 14,800 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,283 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,800 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.08% of Lam Research worth $105,722,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. RFP Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Lam Research by 52.2% in the second quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 35 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Lam Research during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LRCX. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,200.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $1,130.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Lam Research from $950.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $1,250.00 to $1,150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,006.10.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 4,409 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,055.76, for a total value of $4,654,845.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,239,346.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Lam Research news, CEO Timothy Archer sold 9,650 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,070.39, for a total value of $10,329,263.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 84,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,596,739.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 4,409 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,055.76, for a total transaction of $4,654,845.84. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,239,346.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,326 shares of company stock worth $17,383,715. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Stock Performance

Shares of LRCX opened at $769.72 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $868.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $932.10. Lam Research Co. has a 52-week low of $574.42 and a 52-week high of $1,130.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $99.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.48.

Lam Research shares are set to split before the market opens on Thursday, October 3rd. The 10-1 split was announced on Tuesday, May 21st. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $8.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.58 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.82 billion. Lam Research had a return on equity of 48.71% and a net margin of 25.68%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.98 EPS. Research analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 35.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of $2.30 per share. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. This is an increase from Lam Research’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is 29.42%.

Lam Research declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 21st that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Lam Research

Lam Research Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The company offers ALTUS systems to deposit conformal films for tungsten metallization applications; SABRE electrochemical deposition products for copper interconnect transition that offers copper damascene manufacturing; SOLA ultraviolet thermal processing products for film treatments; and VECTOR plasma-enhanced CVD ALD products.